What an Experience...

What an amazing experience!! I'm so excited that Sass and I headed to Detroit for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game.
Here is an update of our adventure. We eventually got a car downtown and parked at the UNC team hotel. There we met two of Sass' old roommates from college Bill Robinson and A.J. Critelli. (Bill was there for my Rose Bowl experience in 1998, ask me about it sometime.) A.J.'s wife Janet and another friend Kevin were also with them. We went over to the MGM Grand and did some gambling. I'm not very good at anything and don't have any money, so I played the video poker machines that cost a nickel and a quarter a hand! I only lost $15! Eventually we made our way back to town, had a LATE lunch, and just hung out waiting for the team departure from the hotel about 7:45pm. They looked sharp in their suits!
We were very close to Ford Field from there so we just walked down.

I was so excited about the game, but it got even better when I was able to sneak in my Mike & Ike's! It was just amazing being such a vast minority for the game. We were drowning in a sea of green & white. It was such a weird feeling. We had great seats, about halfway up the bottom level.
Here is a view from our seats!

Then, the Temptations sang the National Anthem, so I was really pumped!
As everybody knows the Heels jumped on them early and really took the crowd out of it, which actually took some of the fun out of it. In the 2nd Half it was fun when we'd let them cut the lead by 5 points or so, the crowd would start to awaken, and then we'd just put them back to bed.
When it was all over I just couldn't believe I was there. As the confetti rained down and the fireworks went off we all jumped around, screamed, and took tons of pictures.

A was there when they won their 5th National Championship. I was there for Tyler's last game! I was there in Detroit when the hopes of a state were dashed! I was there with Michael Jordan, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Julius Peppers, George Lynch, and many other former players. It felt like you were really a part of something important. Oh, I even met Rob Stone, who works for ESPN and does a lot of soccer games.
Eventually we cruised back down to the hotel and decided to head back out to MGM for just a little while. We faded fast there (thought we saw Hasheem Thabeet) and headed to our hotel. I think we hit our pillows about 3:30am and had to get up at 8am so we could return one rental car and pick up our new one. And then we drove to Pittsburgh to fly home.
All in all, it was such a great experience. I'm thankful for the opportunity and know that I will ALWAYS remember being there for UNC's 2009 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!